As it was mentioned in Chapter 3, the complex sustainability questions need a special evaluation framework. Malhotra et al. (2013) developed such a framework, and Gholami et al. (2016) continued working on it.
Figure 5.3 Green IS framework (adapted from Gholami et al. (2016)
- 56 - To make a brief recapitulation, the framework suggests the categorization:
- Conceptualize (review papers and conceptual frameworks);
- Analyze (quantitative empirical analysis and case studies);
- Design-oriented (design science), and
- Impact-oriented (implementation and direct sustainability impact).
Also, the authors highlight the fact that there are many papers and published articles that can be categorized as “conceptualize” or “analyze”, and very few in “design-oriented”
and “impact-oriented” section, and encourage the researchers to try fulfilling this gap.
Following this categorization, the current Master thesis research project can be put into the category “analyze” by considering two different scenarios for garbage collection. At the same time, taking into account the idea of the unspecialized LCT usage (and in particular with different compartments and moving inner walls) and direct positive sustainability effect expressed in terms of CO2 emissions reductions, the current project possesses the features of the impact-oriented research, and could be placed in the “impact-oriented” category respectively.
- 57 - 6 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
The current Master thesis research project focuses on the usage of DSS for Sustainable Development. As it was denoted in the Chapter 2, there’s a gap in the DSS application for solving the ill-structured questions of Green ICT and Sustainability. As the example use case, the smart waste management case was chosen. The idea of the project was to create a decision support tool for the coordinators which allow the drivers of the garbage trucks to choose the optimal path for collecting garbage.
It was also shown with the help of the different scenarios consideration that the modern way of garbage collection requires new and innovative solutions, and the modification to the garbage truck was suggested to improve the garbage collection process. By introducing such modifications, we have received more than 50% savings in the distance covered, and more than 50% reduction in CO2 emissions.
The project has a potential to be developed and has its growth in the future. Firstly, the data collected from sensors and then processed by the DSS, can be used by the municipality for the prediction of the garbage bins fill trends. One can notice that, for example, during the week-end the chances to have an informal family gathering event are much higher than on week-day, and, therefore, they might require their garbage bin to be emptied sooner. At the same time, there’s an opportunity to use the data from DSS as the basic one for deciding where to build an incinerator and of which type. For example, offices in the city center usually don’t produce much bio waste, while the amount of paper and plastic waste is quite high. It might be reasonable to have the incinerator for plastic and paper somewhere not far from the office part of the city, so to reduce the distance HCTs would cover to bring the garbage to the incinerator.
At the same time, the current model doesn’t explicitly consider the end-user preferences (such as driver’s opinion etc.). It is possible to combine the MCDM technique with Multi-Objective Decision-Making (MODM) techniques in order to prioritize one criterion over another depending on the external factors (such as traffic jam criterion over distance criterion while holidays, or “bio garbage to be picked up first during summertime” criterion over the
“shortest path” criterion). An AHP approach might be used to tackle this issue, as it allows to organize criteria hierarchically, prioritizing one over another when necessary.
Also, the emerging trend of blockchains usage might be connected with the current research. When the citizens are ready to bring their garbage to the garbage bin, they can just notify the system using mobile application, and pay a certain amount of money via mobile application. The driver of the LCT comes to pick up the garbage, and when he collected all the garbage at the locations proposed by DSS, again a certain amount of money will be transferred to his account. All the payments might be made using blockchains as a modern and safe way to transfer and receive money. The prototypes of the applications mentioned in the previous paragraph are shown at Figure 6.1, Figure 6.2 and Figure 6.3.
- 58 - Figure 6.1 Mobile application for
garbage truck driver (prototype)
Figure 6.3 Web application for long-term planning (prototype) Figure 6.2 Web application for the coordinator (prototype)
The application for the garbage truck driver should contain the map with the predefined path proposed by DSS, the checkboxes where the driver could check out the bins that have been emptied, the “Report problem” button for reporting to the coordinator if there’s any issue, and the “Finish”
button which will redirect the driver to the page for getting the salary. The coordinator’s web application should show the map with all the routes for garbage collection, as well as the characteristics of all trucks. Also, the application for the municipality can be developed, in order to help with planning the scheduled garbage truck trips based on the amount of garbage being produced in every district during fixed amount of time (daily/weekly/monthly).
Overall, the project was evaluated against Green IS framework, and was categorized as
“impact-oriented”, which means the direct impact on climate change mitigation. Indeed, the reduction in CO2 emissions in more than 2 times shows the opportunity for the introduced idea of the new garbage truck type with moving inner compartments to be industry successful.
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- 66 - APPENDICES